Bio: Constant Cap has a MasterÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He holds an undergraduate degree from the same university. He writes about urban planning issues online and in local dailies. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya he passionate about the planning issues facing African Cities. He has a deep interest in sustainable transportation, urban resilience and new urbanism. He is also a Graduate Member of the Town and County Planners Association of Kenya. He has previously worked at the Strathmore University Advancement Office. He currently works as the Executive Director of Kilimani Project Foundation.

The policy will aim at harmonizing all previous initiatives that have been made by different agencies, developing specifications and standards, accommodating social and environmental standards, improving capacity of the county to develop facilities and thus improving quality of life.

The county government has recently made an effort towards providing footpaths and walkways, though a lot is left to be desired. Very few of them are suitable for persons with disability or children and in many cases, they are seen as an ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“extra additionÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ during road construction. The few bicycle routes in existence are not networked.

As per the targets set by the County government, the policy report should be out by the end of February 2015. This gives about two months for data collection, review of existing policies and regulations, organization of platforms and making improvements based on feedback.

Among her preliminary research findings are the reality of the high cost of infrastructure and a recent change to Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â integrated planning modes from purely motorized. She notes that NMT should not only be thought of ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“with a roadÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ but also ought to be considered on its own e.g. pedestrian only streets or cyclist only streets.

Currently all urban roads are considering NMT but are limited by financing, lack of space, retrofitting, and the battle between the ideal and the reality (what suits a place on paper and what can actually be done on the ground).

Most of the previous urban development has been based on what one may call an elitist approach, thus putting NMT on the sideline and taking motorists as the main players. Critical towards avoiding this is to consider demand as a key factor, making pedestrian counts, NMT Audits, prioritization and budgeting. This brings about the need for integrated planning Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â e.g. if people will trade on the bridge build the bridge to accommodate traders other than spend money enforcing rules and regulations.

Engineer Opiyo informed stakeholders that the key aspects of NMT being carts, trailers, cyclists and walking, (though we do not like talking about carts). Among the characteristics of NMT include exposure to danger, slower in non-congested streets, faster in congested streets, use of human power, less pollutant and cheaper in short trips.

He outlined the key areas that will be considered in the policy including the Problem statement, Vision, Mission and Strategic Objectives.

Important considerations in developing the policy will be multimodal transport, design based on ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“principles of universal design,ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢NMT facilities meeting user requirements and development of streets based on road network hierarchy. Recognition of street trading and street design elements are also leading considerations.

One of the more recent successful cases of NMT was in Chennai, India. A City that is known for its high usage of vehicular transport, they set up an NMT policy in 2012 where they also allocated 60% of their transportation budget to NMT.Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â The prioritization of people over cars has seen safer streets and promotion of walking and cycling.c